Stephen Walt

A controversial author and longtime critic of the U.S.-Israel alliance lectured at the State Department Friday on the eve of the AIPAC policy conference, Washington’s largest annual pro-Israel gathering.

Stephen Walt, coauthor of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy and professor of international affairs at Harvard University, was the featured speaker at the Secretary’s Open Forum on Friday afternoon. His topic: “Top reasons American foreign policy fails,” according to a copy of the event flyer posted in the hallways of Foggy Bottom.

It is unclear how high the U.S.-Israel relationship ranked on Walt’s list.

One State Department insider provided the announcement flyer to the Free Beacon and expressed concern that the Department would host such a divisive figure.

Walt’s speech, which took place as Secretary of State John Kerry traveled overseas on his first diplomatic tour, came days after the Senate confirmed Chuck Hagel as secretary of Defense on a sharply divided vote of 58-41. Walt emerged as a strong supporter of Hagel’s nomination, defending the former Nebraska GOP senator’s remarks that the “Jewish lobby” “intimidates” elected officials on Capitol Hill.

What do Harvard’s Stephen Walt and the Iranian parliament have in common? Both are obsessed with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a bipartisan think tank in Washington that we’re proud to call our neighbor. Walt and the Iranians, on the other hand, both see FDD as a pillar of​—​you guessed it​—​the “Israel lobby.”